Even More Christmas Ideas

• Tie kids packages with decorative shoe laces or hair ribbon instead of paper or plastic ribbon. Fun to wear after the holidays!
• For a lovely scent, tie two cinnamon sticks together with bright red or green ribbon, then hook on tree. Put several of these around the tree and in different areas of the house for an extra good scent.
• Fill your home with the scent of Christmas.

Place orange rind, cloves, cinnamon sticks and fresh ginger in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Let mixture simmer on low heat.
• Save the inner sleeves that light bulbs come in.

They are perfect for storing your precious delicate Christmas ornaments.
• Use a hair dryer on price stickers that won’t come off. Wave it across the sticker for a minute or so and when the glue gets warm, the sticker will come right off.
• Keep a tin of pirouette cookies on hand to serve with fresh fruit salad. Or tuck them into scoops of ice cream for an instant upgrade.
• Add elegance to even the simplest desserts by serving it in stemmed glasses.
• Chocolate leaves: Brush melted chocolate on undersides of clean, nonpoisonous leaves, such as mint or rose leaves.

Let set, then carefully peel off. Refrigerate chocolate leaves in an airtight container and they’ll keep for months. Use them to decorate cakes or creamy desserts.
• Keep a sugar shaker filled with confectioner’s sugar and ready in the kitchen.

A snowy dusting of white sugar is the fastest way to give a pretty finish to cakes, pies or cookies– any dessert that has a dry surface.
• Cut snowflake shapes out of paper doilies and arrange them on unfrosted dark cake (such as chocolate or gingerbread). Sift confectioner’s sugar over the cake, then carefully lift off the doilies.
• Do as pastry chefs do and lightly sift confectioner’s sugar over the food and the rim of the plate. For special occasions, sprinkle a light trail of cocoa around the edge of the plate before dusting with sugar.
• Clever gift wrapping: Make your gift wrap functional and it becomes a part of the present.

For example, use a pretty scarf, cloth napkin or tea towel to wrap the gift. Then decorate the package with hair accessories or dried flowers.
• Spatter tissue paper with metallic paint. Let dry well.

Wrap with ribbon close to shade of metallic paint.
• Wrap a small present in a colorful scarf or bandana and tie with twine.
• Line a berry basket with tissue and tuck in a gift.